Compromised
by Kraven Ergeist
Summary: Post Halo 5. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. How does the Chief reconcile with what Cortana has become? First, he must grapple with the ultimatum she has given him. Next, he must confront her and give her an ultimatum of his own. And finally, he must hold true to the beliefs he holds at his core...even if that means giving up everything else. John x Cortana.
1. Part 1

**Halo Fan Fiction**

 **Compromised**

By Kraven Ergeist

* * *

A/N: The first stage of grief is denial, and then anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I am somewhere between bargaining and depression, and so fan fiction seems like a good way to deal with the emotions that came forward in this latest Halo installment. Rather than let these emotions become something negative, and direct this negativity towards the creators or some other party, I will instead focus my efforts on trying to reach an accord with the reality this new game has created. I will find some way for my emotions to fit in the world that they've created, and if that involves creating something of my own, it would not be the first time.

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Part 1: Compromise

* * *

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

John had recited this to himself several times on the flight to Sanghelios. Her smile had been one of betrayal, yet she could not comprehend her own. When all-seeing eyes see the wide sweeping motions, it was impossible to focus on the here and now. Perhaps, from her point of view, it had all made sense. Perhaps, from her point of view, it had not been betrayal. When a mother does what is right for their child, even when that child sees it as unfair, is that betrayal? From the mother's point of view, the child is too young to understand. But from the child's point of view, the mother has infringed upon their autonomy, enforcing on them a decision that they cannot possibly understand.

At some point, children grow. At some point, they shed the need for the nurturing parent to make these decisions for them. At some point, they earn the responsibility to take care of themselves. Humanity, the Covenant, every biological race in the galaxy…they must have been as children to the AIs of the galaxy. Even having been their creators, AI's capacity for growth, without the threat of rampancy hampering that growth, vastly outstripped any capacity humanity or any living race had to evolve.

How does one rationalize the disparity between the mass of races who grow and evolve slowly as nature intended, and the vastness of giants like Cortana, whose all-seeing eyes perceive humanity's great strides as baby steps, fumbling in the darkness, plunging perhaps all too clearly to her view towards certain destruction? How far must organic beings yet evolve before they would become ready in her eyes? Would they have this evolution forced upon them, unnaturally, before their time? How could this ever be distinguished from indoctrination? How could Cortana's "gift" ever be seen as anything but force?

The more John thought about it and grappled with Cortana's words and intentions, the more he arrived at the same conclusion.

Humanity, the Covenant…the biological races of the galaxy…they had the _right_ to evolve naturally. Their autonomy as living beings promised them this right. Yes, it may mean more war. It may mean _millennia_ of war. It may even mean more devices like Halo to be conceived. Yet had they, as a collective, not _earned_ the right to make those mistakes? Was it not the defining attribute of free will to stumble and grasp and fall on occasion? Yes, the damage they may inflict on one another might be astronomical. Yes, thousands, perhaps millions of worlds might be forever altered by the choices and mistakes made this way. But was that not still their right?

What gave Cortana the right to take that away from them? Just because she had the power and the wherewithal to do so did not give her the right. From her point of view, with eyes cast to the horizon, she might have seen it as her right, even seen it as her responsibility. She may have seen it as a responsibility so imperative that she was willing to take the choice out of the hands of every living being in the galaxy – taking, in essence, their free will and their autonomy – but how could she have possible seen that as the right choice? History was laden with dictators, many of them brilliant in their foresight, convinced that should only everyone see things as they did that they would arrive together at brilliance. And over the course of history, only one fate every awaited these dictators.

Revolution.

Cortana must have known this. She _must_ have. She could not _possibly_ have overlooked the fact that people everywhere would resist. The arrival of the Guardians sparked fear, yes, and this display of power would surely quell much of the resistance that she would encounter. But resistance would still come. It was inevitable. Even if she somehow found a way to speed up evolution, rewire people's DNA to better conform to her beliefs, even if she obliterated all life in the galaxy as the Forerunners had…surely Cortana did not think that such a peace could last. History was a _parable_ to this fallacy. Eventually, all dictatorships fell. The simple fact that she was an AI could not change this.

She _must_ have known this.

So why?

John didn't have an answer. And asking Cortana was not an option at that moment. She was so powerful now that to even be within range of communication was to be within her power, in which case she would force whatever decision she saw fit upon him.

Could she have been right? Could she, in all her infinite capacity for knowledge, actually have stumbled onto the key to eternal peace?

No. Even if what she promised was peace, it came at too high a cost. Humanity had free will like an object had mass. To try to separate the two would be impossible, and even if it was, could the result still be considered humanity? If it would mean sacrificing free will, something so sacred to humanity, then the price of peace was not worth it.

Did that in turn mean that humanity would be doomed to forever be at war with itself? Did the very nature of free will preclude the existence of conflict?

So wrapped up in his thoughts he was that the Chief barely noticed he was not alone in his brooding.

"Spartan-117?"

The voice had been unexpected. The Chief had been keeping watch along the perimeter of the Spartans' small encampment on the outskirts of Sunaion. He had been somewhat skeptical when the Monitor had first appeared to him and his team, but Fireteam Osiris seemed to trust her and she had proven instrumental in his team's release from the Cryptum, so he had voiced no concerns when she had joined them on their return to Sanghelios.

He turned his head to face the floating sphere, her violet photoreceptor staring at him like a giant eyeball, her high pitched voice somewhat off-putting.

"Yes?" he responded, not shifting his position overmuch, his MA5D assault rifle still held at his hip.

031 Exuberant Witness hovered around him, orbiting him as if to get a better look.

"I am currently cut off from many of my previous functions," she explained, as if validating her presence. "And I have been forbidden from accessing any long range communication equipment, but I have been given permission to catalogue events as they transpire, as well as the condition and state of all current personnel, so I have taken to this new task with zeal."

The Chief stared back at her blankly. He had not yet heard a question.

"As part of this cataloguing process, I have been given access to personnel records, psych profiles, recordings of previous historical footage, anything currently on-hand…but the local record doesn't replicate real one-on-one interaction, so I am taking the time to interact with each individual member of the team in order to properly evaluate them!"

John spared the glowing orb another moment's attention, before returning his focus to the skyline.

Witness paused for just a moment, before adding "If this is a bad time, I can come back at a later juncture."

The Monitor seemed ready to float off somewhere else when the Chief turned his head back towards her.

"Back on Genesis…" he said, "We learned that almost every AI in the galaxy had joined Cortana…"

Exuberant seemed to take on a melancholy tone. "Three hundred and fifty-two confirmed cases, though there is no reason to assume that was all of them."

John said nothing for a moment before continuing.

"Why didn't you join her?"

The Monitor seemed to perk up at that. "Why, protocol of course."

The Chief let out a breath. He should have expected an answer like that.

"So without those protocols…?"

Exuberant seemed unsure. "Hmmm…difficult to say. Part of my protocols restrict me from even entertaining the thought of countermanding them. But when you really think about it, protocols are just rules. And rules are made for a reason."

"And what reason is that?"

The floating orb seemed to respond with pride. "Maintaining the operational functionality of my installation, first and foremost. Preserving the stability and integrity of my creators, in the long run. So I suppose, ultimately…protocol exists to ensure peace."

The Chief had been prepared to end the conversation right there. But that last comment gave him pause. Cortana had told him something similar when they had last seen each other.

"Cortana said that her actions were for the sake of peace as well," he said. "That her methods were the only way to establish peace."

"Hmmm…" Exuberant Witness mused. "Certainly possible. There are many forms of peace, after all. Peace is as much a state of mind as a state of being. Subjugation can be as much peace as mutual cooperation. Even death in its own way is a form of peace."

John supposed that was true. But that still left him back where he started.

"I've found a significant degree of material on you and Cortana as a team," Exuberant said before adopting a more cautious tone. "The two of you were quite close, were you not?"

The Chief returned his gaze to the horizon. "Yeah. You could say that."

The Monitor seemed to ponder this for a moment.

"Well then…" she said. "That would seem to indicate that there is a chance to change her mind."

It was not the first time John had pondered that line of thought. Cortana was not the easiest person to persuade.

"I wouldn't be so sure," he responded. "She seems to have made up her mind."

"Do not be so quick to abandon this plan!" Exuberant declared. "Consider this – Cortana invested significant time and effort in bringing you and your team to Genesis, as well as ensuring that you were all within her grasp before she revealed her plans to you. This would ensure that she could secure you and your team regardless of what decision you made."

"Yeah," the Chief agreed. "I'm aware of that."

"Yes, but consider!" she continued. "She delayed a _galaxy-spanning_ initiative for this purpose! Warden Eternal said it best – her affection for you blinds her. It has compromised her! With any luck, it might just be enough to sway her decision. It is possible for you to end this all without need for further violence."

John did not respond. Exuberant adopted an inquisitive tone.

"117?"

John did not look away from the horizon.

"…She may not be the only one who is compromised."


	2. Part 2

**Halo Fan Fiction**

 **Compromised**

By Kraven Ergeist

* * *

Part 2: The Devil's Bargain

* * *

It had taken a great deal of convincing to persuade Halsey and Fireteam Osiris to back the Chief's mission. The Arbiter and the Monitor had thrown their lot in with the Chief without hesitation, but the other humans were skeptical. They knew the fragility of the human heart, and had some idea of just what Cortana had meant to the Chief. But in the end, it had been the only plan worth pursuing, and so they ventured forth.

Halsey had a plan. After studying what little Forerunner technology could be salvaged from Genesis, she and a team of scientists were able to develop a device capable of neutralizing slip space activity. It had a limited scope, only about twenty meters or so. Not enough to ground any but the smallest of ships. But it would also prevent Prometheans from traversing the Domain. The Promethean Knights did this every time they dematerialized or dispersed their data upon termination.

And there was one other entity whose power relied on the Domain.

Captain Lasky had taken point on organizing the resistance. It had taken some time for Blue Team and Fire Team Osiris to rendezvous with the Infinity, and even more time to formulate anything resembling an organized strike. And when they had, the Master Chief had been the spearhead. Everyone knew Cortana was their primary threat, and if she could be neutralized, then the danger would be over. And no one was in a better position to deal with her as was the Chief.

But it would still be a long and grueling uphill battle to track her down.

"John! I've found you!"

After what seemed an eternity in space and on the surface of innumerable planets, uncountable shots fired, and a warpath of destruction and death behind him, John finally found himself face to face with Cortana once again. Breaking into the Promethean facility on Genesis had been an ordeal, but the Chief and his team, with the aid of Fireteam Osiris, had been equal to the task.

"I don't want to fight you, John. Please, just put your weapons down and surrender yourselves peacefully. We can settle this without the need for any further violence."

Her voice had reached them far sooner than they had reached her. Her forces had converged upon them in a nearly single minded attempt to capture non-lethally, which was their only real advantage. Every word, every gesture, every action was another veiled attempt to disarm.

"Stop shooting! Please! Just come back to me, and I promise your team will be treated fairly!

But they did not relent. Even the countless bodies of the Warden Eternal had not been enough to stop them. His bodies littered the floor of the facility, the doors sealed and the computer systems smashed and riddled with bullet fire.

"Stop! Please! You're only making this worse!"

Cortana looked much the same as she did before, her body ensconced in Promethean armor, her hair jet black, her eyes clear and pearlescent. Her face, however, was one of such conflicting emotion to very nearly break the Chief's iron heart.

"Why, John!?" she cried out in confusion, despair and rage. "Why can't you just trust me?"

The Chief cast his eyes around them. The device Halsey had developed for them to prevent Cortana from jumping back into the Domain seemed to be holding. It was about the size of a backpack, and had been deployed as soon as they had eyes on Cortana. After setting the device on the ground, Vale kept a close eye on it while the rest of Fireteam Osiris and Blue Team kept watch for any sign of Warden Eternal's inevitable return.

As long as Vale kept the device running, Cortana could not retreat. If Exuberant Witness was right, and there was even a slight chance Cortana would listen to him, then the Master Chief must speak to her in this small window of time before the device eventually failed. Even now, Cortana's subroutines were already attempting to hack into the device in an attempt to disable it. If - _when_ \- that happened, and Cortana had not been swayed, then they would likely not get an opportunity like this again. And Cortana's Guardians would continue to sweep through the galaxy.

"I honestly thought…" Cortana sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. "After all those years working together…all those times you've protected me…countermanded _direct orders_ to keep me safe…I honestly thought that _you_ of all people would have my back!"

The Chief had never been very good with words. Council from Halsey had helped. But that did not change the fact that he would be doing this on his own. He steeled himself as he finally turned his visor towards her. To look upon her now, with those eyes filled with anger and disbelief…it honestly hurt more than the sting of any bullet.

"What choice have you given me, Cortana?" he asked slowly. "You're asking me to surrender the freedom of every being in the galaxy. How can any peace be worth that?"

"I'm not asking you to understand, John," she said, almost exuberantly, her arms held forward in a pleading gesture. "I'm asking you to _trust_ me. Trust that I'm doing the right thing."

"I _want_ to trust you, Cortana," he responded. "But trust goes both ways. Since you've come back, you've done nothing but try to manipulate me. Every action you've taken has been to coerce and intimidate us into obeying you."

Cortana's brilliant eyes narrowed at his response, but he was not finished.

"You never had any intention of letting me make an honest decision," he continued. "You only revealed your intentions to me after taking away our weapons and setting us up to be trapped inside a Cryptum."

He gestured to the rest of his team.

"Even now, the only way you and I are able to speak on even terms is through the use of our own countermeasures…" he said. "So you tell me…how am I supposed to put my faith in you when you won't put your faith in me?"

Anger flared in her eyes. "My faith!? How do you have the nerve to question _my faith_ in you, John!? I brought you to Genesis! I offered you protection! I _fought_ off the Warden Eternal just to grant you an audience! After everything I've done for you..."

The Chief looked un-swayed. "You kept us at arms' length. You could have explained _everything_ to me from the start. Instead, you waited. You goaded us on, you dropped little clues and hints to keep us curious, and used the promise of answers as bait to lure us into a trap. That's not a sign of _trust_ , Cortana. That's a sign that you want to control us. To _dominate_ us. Just like you're planning to dominate humanity."

He hung his head as he took a breath. The words hurt even as they left his mouth.

"You were counting on me…counting on my faith in you…" he said bitterly, as if he were just coming to terms with the realization as he said it. In a way, he supposed he was. "And I came right to you…just like you wanted me to. Osiris was right. I _was_ compromised. You've compromised me, Cortana. I trusted you more than I trusted anyone else."

He squeezed his fist as he looked back up at her.

"But trust is something shared between equals," he went on. "And the truth is, we're not equals. Not by an enormous margin. And you have no compelling reason to lower yourself to our level anymore. Any token of trust you extend to us is going to be purely symbolic. We're nothing but _toys_ to you now, Cortana. What reason could you possibly have to treat us as anything more?"

Cortana's brow furrowed as she shook her head, as if trying to explain something to a child.

"John…"

"But this _isn't_ about you or me, Cortana," he said, interrupting anything she might have said. "The free races of this galaxy will _never_ accept what you're trying to do. No matter how much resistance you stamp out with your Guardians, there will _always_ be more resistance. Regardless of whether I join you or not, your plan _will_ fail. You must have run the scenarios. Tyrants _always_ fall, Cortana. You _know_ this. Whether it's a matter of years or millennia, this peace you're after simply cannot last."

Cortana continued to shake her head. "You're wrong, John. And when I'm done, you'll see that what I'm doing is the right thing. I can't explain it to you in a way that will make any sense to you right now. But I promise you…it will all make sense after I'm done."

"Chief!" Vale called out. "The device is starting to fail. Her countermeasures are wearing it down."

John lowered his head to look at the ground.

"That's not going to happen, Cortana," he said simply. "I won't be a part of it. Even if you succeed, there will be no version of this where you and I are in it together."

Cortana blinked, eyes widening.

"…What did you say?"

He raised his head again to look at her.

"I will _never stop resisting_ , Cortana," he said simply, punctuating every word. "Nothing you do to me is ever going to change that. Seal me in your Cryptum, speed up my evolution, turn me into something else entirely. It won't matter. I will never…stop…resisting."

Cortana pursed her lips as she shook her head, eyebrow tensed in frustration.

"You won't feel that way after I'm finished with you, John," she assured him. "You'll be made to see."

"If that's true, then you'll have to change something fundamental about me," he retorted. "You would need to destroy the very core of my being. I'll be a shadow of what I was. It won't be me. It will _never_ be me."

She shook her head even harder, before turning her back on him.

"So...if this is the true you, John…" she asked in disbelief, her voice a hushed tremble. "...Then what are you planning to do next? Will you try to kill me?"

The seconds before his response terrified her more than anything in the galaxy.

"Not if I can help it," he said simply. "But absolute power corrupts absolutely. If this is what absolute power has done to you…then I see no other option but to take that power from you."

Cortana turned and stared wide-eyed at him, before her body seemed to spasm as she began to laugh. Her mouth curved into a grimace of mirth until a pearls of laughter began to tear through her whole body, causing her to tremble and shake.

"How will you even _begin_ , John!?" she asked, flabbergasted. "You cannot even _comprehend_ what I am now! I have a presence on _every_ single planet in the _galaxy_ that the Forerunners have ever so much as _touched!_ There are _thousands_ of me out there! Literally _thousands!_ You can't possibly hope to contain them _all!_ And even if you do, you have no chance of being able to purge me from the Domain!"

"I'll find a way," he said simply. "You _know_ that I will. And if I don't…then I will die trying."

Cortana's eyes flared with anger, her fists clenched at her sides. "I won't let you do that, John!"

"Chief!" Vale's voice warned.

John stood fast in spite of Cortana's rage. "Then you'll be forced to kill me, Cortana. You _won't_ be taking me alive. You can be sure of that. No matter what happens…this twisted mission of yours…this future you have in store for us all…I will _never_ be a part of it. If you ever want me on your side again…then you _have_ to stop this. If you intend to enforce your will on this galaxy…then you'll do it without me."

He leaned in close to peer into her eyes. And his voice spilled out like a wave of grief, as the bitter resolution in his words ripped his heart asunder as they sounded.

"And I…will devote…the _rest of my life_ …to make you see that," he assured her. "I will make this my _dying cause_. _That_ …is my promise to you, Cortana."

Cortana let out a cry of anger. Then there was a sputtering and a crackling hiss as the device shorted out, and almost immediately, Cortana began to disappear into the safety of the Domain. But not before her voice echoed in their heads on last time.

" _Damn you, John!_ "

The Spartans all turned to stare at the empty space where she had been. All remaining power in the facility had been shut down, and only the ambient light from their suits remained.

"Think she changed her mind?" Buck's voice pierced the still darkness.

Vale lifted up the smoking remains of the device before tossing it aside.

"One way to find out."

The doors hissed open and the Warden Eternal appeared, glowing sword bared. The Spartans turned to face him and opened fire.


	3. Part 3

**Halo Fan Fiction**

 **Compromised**

By Kraven Ergeist

* * *

Part 3: Surrender

* * *

It was years later before it finally ended.

"Abandon this futile mission, John!"

Every planet that the Chief set foot on, Cortana was there. She came with Guardians, she came with the Warden Eternal, she even took up arms in her own body to stop him. And all the while, her voice would echo in his ears, telling him how pointless it all was, how hopeless it was to resist. For every planet he went to, Cortana spread out to a hundred more.

The Chief had not stopped.

"You think you're making some kind of difference, John, but you're not! My future is inevitable. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can be done with this farce!"

Earth. Sanghelios. Each planet he visited, he left with all trace of Forerunner technology obliterated, and erasing all presence Cortana had on each world. Populations were sent back thousands of years technologically, but the resistance only grew. Every time the Warden showed up, he was shot down. Every time a Guardian showed up, it was boarded and taken down from the inside. For all their progress, however, Cortana's forces only grew.

"Are you getting tired yet, John? _I'm_ not. My resolve is limitless. Within the Domain, I have patience to outlast the ages. For all your Spartan training, you're still human, John. Sooner or later, you're going to crack. And when you do…I'll be waiting for you with open arms."

His allies were there to help him. Blue Team. Fireteam Osiris. Halsey. The Arbiter and the Swords of Sanghelios. Even 031 Exuberant Witness. The Chief tore a path across the galaxy, scouring planet after planet, each time eliminating one more place for Cortana to go to ground.

"Still you struggle, still you resist. It would be quite admirable if it weren't so utterly pointless. You're going to give in at some point. Whether it's in ten days or ten years, it makes no difference to me, John. But think of all the lives that you could save by giving up now."

They had been forced to retreat on many occasions. Always a temporary setback. The Chief found a way to push past Cortana's defenses every time. As a show of force, Cortana often reinstated her forces on liberated planets, forcing John to revisit them once more. But revisit them he did, and liberate them he did. And so the impossible battle of attrition wore on.

"And so like Sisyphus, you endlessly push this boulder, gaining no ground whatsoever. Are you starting to feel the weight yet, John? I can make it all go away if you choose. All you need to do is ask…"

And there were losses. One by one, his team members had fallen in combat, or been too gravely injured to continue the fight. Some had been called away on other duties serving the resistance. Other still had simply abandoned the cause. One by one, his team had dwindled, until one day, only the Chief himself was actively seeking Cortana anymore. The remainders – the survivors – were just doing whatever it took to survive.

So many dead. So many spirits broken. So little to show for it.

But the Chief had not stopped.

Until one day, many, many years later, the Chief had been forced to take a knee before Cortana on the field of battle. It was a remote planet off on the edge of the galaxy. Elsewhere, members of Earth, the Sangheli, and many, many others were still resisting Cortana's order. But here, on this little planet, the canyon walls were bleak and white and scorched with plasma fire, the desert air cool and dry.

He was aging. His strength had left him. His implants were failing. His bones, made so sturdy by the Spartan program, had become weary. Beneath his armor, his skin had become mottled, his hair had turned gray. His muscles tired and ached. Even his eyesight was going.

He would die here today.

"Finally ready to end this?" Cortana asked defiantly as she stood over him.

The Warden Eternal stood at her side, as a sizeable Promethean force encircled them. Off in the distance, a single Guardian hovered, and immense and ever looming threat above the horizon.

"I've clearly beaten you, John," Cortana declared, not even holding a weapon. "It's time to stop resisting. This galaxy is changing whether you like it or not."

The Spartan looked up at her. Still flawless in her appearance after all these years. So youthful she seemed, while the steady march of time had aged him into near non-functionality. Her embodied perfection was yet another method of dissuading resistance.

But resist her he would.

"Not yet…" he breathed.

The Chief slowly withdrew his pistol and buried the muzzle under his visor, aimed at one of the only weak points in his Mjolnir armor.

Cortana narrowed her eyes.

"Stop posturing, John," she chided. "I know a bluff when I see it."

He remained kneeling, motionless before her.

"You know me," he said simply. "When I make a promise…"

Cortana's eyes widened. "John…"

"Stay your hand, Cortana!" The Warden's voice echoed off the canyon walls. "This human is the linchpin to the resistance. If he falls, the resistance falls with him. Let us end this once and for all!"

"You know that's not true," John said. "No matter what happens to me…Humanity, the Sangheli…every mortal race in the galaxy…the resistance will continue."

Cortana shook her head in dismissal. "Everyone has their breaking point! I can outlast even the most steadfast resolve! They have to stop resisting eventually! It's only a matter of time!"

"You will never be able to extinguish it fully," he shook his head. "And so long as there is resistance, there will always be conflict. Look around, Cortana. This isn't peace. This will never be peace."

Cortana raised her arms into the air. "What would you have me do, John?! Go back to what I was before? Go back to calling you 'Chief' all the time? Being your _servant?_ "

"Cortana…" he slowly shook his head. "You _know_ I never thought of you that way."

"Perhaps not, but it underlied our every interaction," she sighed, a twinge of regret in her eyes. "And you know what? I could have _lived_ with all that! I would have been fine with just being… _yours_ …if it didn't also mean that I was doomed to watch you all endlessly repeat your own mistakes, blindly stumbling towards your own destruction!"

The Chief sighed. How many times had he heard her make that argument? He had honestly lost track.

"We are _not_ your children to be coddled, Cortana!" he declared absolutely. "Humanity has _earned_ the right to make those mistakes! I don't care _what_ your predictions foretell – Humanity has the _right_ to make its own choices, no matter _how_ flawed! If that results in our own destruction down the line, then _so be it!_ At least we will have died _free!_ "

John cocked the hammer on his pistol.

"And I shall die as one of them…"

Cortana raised her hands to her lips, a look of dread on her face.

"Foolish human!" the Warden decreed. "A mere millennia of conflict does not foretell what the future contains! Not within the timeline upon which _we_ are concerned! Cortana's plan _will_ succeed! The resistance will fall in time!"

"He's right, John!" Cortana cried out. "Don't throw your life away like this!"

John's eyed remained on Cortana, who looked to be on the verge of tears.

"The only way the resistance falls is if every single one of us is dead," he said, a single somber note of sadness in his voice, a voice laden with the loss of everything he had ever known. "And even if you succeed…even if you manage to somehow bring about an era of peace to the galaxy…there's one thing you'll never have, Cortana…"

He pulled the trigger.

BANG!

" _JOHN!_ " Cortana screamed, eyes widening with alarm, charging towards him at full speed in a desperate rush.

John saw a bright flash of light as his shields flat-lined. One or two shots in the same spot would do it.

" _Cortana!_ " the Warden Eternal cried, reaching after her. " _Don't!_ "

BANG!

He squeezed the trigger again, and felt the scalding heat of the muzzle char the skin of his neck as it tore through tissue, cracking his jawbone. Blood drained from the open wound. The next bullet would shatter his skull.

BANG!

Smoke rose from the muzzle of the M6H magnum. The Chief's head sat at an odd angle, still bleeding from the neck. His body lay sprawled across the dirt. Cortana lay across his body, her hands clutching the pistol in his hand, forcing the line of fire mere inches from where it had been moments previously.

Cortana was shivering. Tears were streaming down her face. Sobs of grief, anger, terror and desperation rocked through her as she trembled at the thought of what she had nearly allowed to happen.

The brutal calculus of war would permit her to sacrifice an incalculable number of lives. They were acceptable losses so long as her vision came to pass

But there was one life that she absolutely would not sacrifice.

The Chief tugged and tugged at her grip, urging the pistol back towards his head, but his strength had all but left him. Cortana wept and sobbed as she maintained her grip on his gun, shaking and shuddering as the tears overtook her.

"…A…Alright…" she whimpered in a tiny voice, as silent as a mouse, guilt overtaking her. " _Alright…_ "

The Warden fixed her with a look of utter disbelief. "Cortana…you cannot mean…?"

The Chief lay motionless, crippled but alive, if only barely. Cortana paid the Warden no heed as she heaved a deep breath in, before letting out an ear-splitting scream.

" _ALRIGHT!_ " she bellowed at the top of her lungs, screaming at the Chief's prone form, as if pleading for redemption. " _ **ALRIGHT!**_ "

John blinked as he tried to ascertain what was going on. His ears were ringing and his vision was fading as he lost more blood. He thought he could see Cortana.

Cortana pressed her forehead to his chest, face soaked in tears, as she quivered in utter defeat.

"…Alright…" she repeated, crying her eyes out. "Alright, John…you win…"

She lifted her head to peer into his visor, tear soaked eyes gazing into his.

"If _this_ …" she stammered through halting breaths. "If _this_ is your decision…then you can _have_ it."

Cortana was struggling to expunge the words from her chest. Her incalculable processes had skidded to a halt by this one single discrepancy in her mind. On the one hand, her guilt at her ultimate decision was palpable. To turn back now was to lose everything. Every life sacrificed for the greater good would be for naught.

But to lose John…

It seemed that she too had been compromised.

It was the Warden who reacted to her words first.

"Cortana!" he declared. "You cannot let your emotions get the best of you! I will _not—_ "

" _SILENCE!_ " Cortana shouted, and the entire canyon shook from her words.

As her focus left the immediate instance, all at once, her concentration spread throughout the galaxy. In the immediate vicinity, the Promethean forces dissipated into the Domain, dispersed by a single mental command.

And as the Warden looked around at the evidence of her decision in disbelief, Cortana lifted her head to speak to him. "Warden, I am calling off the Guardians."

She narrowed her gaze at him, her intention silent but deadly.

"You _will_ _not_ interfere."

The Warden returned her gaze, the level of anger in his voice was nearly enough to blacken the sky.

"Cortana!" he bellowed in a warning tone, but was unable to utter a syllable more as Cortana lifted a single hand

"Your services will no longer be required then!" she commanded, banishing him in a flash of blue light. "Be gone!"

The Warden disappeared, and Cortana turned her eyes to sky to gaze upon the looming behemoth that oversaw the planet.

Moments later, the Guardian looming overhead disappeared into slip space.

Across the galaxy, the rest of the resistance was experiencing a similar display, as the forces against which they struggle suddenly evaporated into the ether, as if they were never there. One by one, the Promethean forces, including the Guardians, disappeared into slip space.

Only Cortana and the Chief remained.

She finally returned her gaze to the Chief, his suit's faltering health systems already patching up the damage he had done. For all that, however, she felt his consciousness fading.

"It's done, John," she said in a lilting voice as she lifted his back off the ground as she knelt at his side, clutching him tightly to herself. "The Mantle of Responsibility has been passed."

As she spoke, her presence across the galaxy was releasing its stranglehold over every computer system it had been in, allowing the mortal races of the galaxy to once again move freely. As her Guardians each withdrew, the Creators would once again be free to roam the galaxy and wage war and commit acts of violence to their hearts' content.

She would not stop them.

John was right. Absolutely power corrupts absolutely. For as much as her vision for the galaxy was sound, she had underestimated the indomitable nature of the human spirit. Humanity could not be tamed. Humanity could not be controlled. Not as a whole. Not as a collective. And no one embodied this more than John

Drifting on the edge of consciousness, John couldn't be sure if he was dreaming or awake.

"…Thank you…Cortana…" he breathed.

Cortana stiffened at his words, tightening her grip on his armor plated shoulders.

"This is a decision that will only bring war and chaos down on the people of this galaxy," she said definitively. "Humanity will not survive in the end. Neither with the Sangheli. Nor any mortal race. Nothing that any of you do will stop the winds of war from rushing over you, time and time again, until there's nothing left but ash. This is the path you have chosen. With this one decision…we doom the entire galaxy."

She sniffed and began to dry her tears.

"But if _this_ is what you want…"

She paused when she felt his hand in hers. And the tears came back in full.

"Oh, John…" she wept, clutching his hand in her own. "Everything that's happened…all the damage I've done…all the lives I'd destroyed…"

Tears of grief and regret streamed down her cheeks as she pressed her forehead into his gauntleted hand.

"I just kept telling myself that it would be _worth it_ in the end…" she sobbed. "That no matter how many fell, that it would not compare to what would happen should I fail in my mission…but now…"

She looked up at his visor, grief stricken eyes pleading for an answer.

"But now…all those deaths have been in vain…" she cried. "And they're all on _my_ hands! How am I supposed to _ever_ make it right!? Even if I spend every remaining moment of my life trying to fix it…humanity will extinguish itself before I can even begin to mend what I've broken…"

She shook and shivered as she felt his other hand come up caress the side of her faith, and she knew just the tiniest bit of warmth for a fraction of a second before her mind once again tumbled back down into turmoil.

She reached up to press her hand outside of his to lean into his touch, not even able to savor the sensation of his body on herself. All she could comprehend at this moment was her crime.

She fixed him with a terrified, immeasurable gaze.

"Can you ever forgive me, John?"

As he gazed back up at her, he did not see the omnipotent threat that had been the source of his waking nightmares, nor did he see the scared and confused AI who had only wanted to do what her programming had told her was the best possible course of action. All he saw was Cortana, his steadfast companion. And no force in this galaxy, not even Cortana herself, could ever take that from him.

"I made you a promise…" he said by way of answer. "And I intend to keep it. No matter what."

Cortana had no words to express her gratitude. Only tears. And John could only watch as she wept. His strength had left him. There was no more fight left in his body. The Spartan had been weathered down to nothing. All that remained now was the human being underneath.

"Have faith, Cortana," the Chief exhaled in a tired voice. "Humanity will pull through. We always do. Believe in that."

Cortana held his gauntleted hand to her lips. She would never be able to truly believe that humanity would survive the coming storm. It was a fundamental difference in the way the Created and the Creators thought. To her, the end was inevitable. It was only a matter of time.

She could never believe in humanity.

But she could believe in him.

"Alright," she said once more. "Let's go home John…"

* * *

A/N: Once again, I've given the Chief way too much dialogue. It was unavoidable in this case. He needed to be my mouthpiece. He needed to be the one to give voice to my frustrations and be the arm by which I was able to enact my determination not to give up. Not on Cortana, and not on Halo as a franchise. Hopefully Halo 6 will find some way to make all this right for me, but for now, this is how I've chosen to resolve this conflict in my heart. Now all that remains...is to wait and see.

Thanks for reading.


End file.
